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^REPORT 

OF THE 

United Confederate Veterans' 
Historical Committee 

WHICH WAS UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED 
AT THE 

Twenty -first Annual Reunion 

HELD AT LITTLE ROCK, ARK., 

ON 

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, May 16th, 17th and 18th, 

1911. 



GEO. W. GORDON, General Commanding. 
WM. E. MICKLE, Adjutant General and Chief of Staff. 



NEW ORLEANS: 

A. W Hyatt Stat'y Mfg. Co. Ltd., 407 Camp St.— 116149 

1911 



BylnMtM 

OCT 30 ?9I2 




REPORT 



OF THE 



United Confederate Veterans' 
Historical Committee. 



Major General Wm. E. fickle,' 

Adjutant General ancl» Chi&f of Staff. 

Sir : — A series of misfortunes have attended the meetings 
of the Historical Committee. Its chairman was compelled 
to submit to a surgical operation, and was in the hospital 
for some weeks. Judge George L. Christian, another mem- 
ber, whose contributions to Confederate history have won him 
not only the admiration, but gratitude, of all who love the Con- 
federate cause and its precious memory, has been cjuite ill and 
could render no assistance. Judge John H. Rogers, whose 
splendid personality, whose superb mind and whose magnifi- 
cent achievements made him a great power in the prepara- 
tion of all papers which aft'ected the South, whose paper read 
at the New Orleans Reunion was one of the masterful pro- 
ductions of Confederate literature, has answered the final sum- 
mons, and crossed over the river to be with the immortals. 

The chairman communicated with various members of 
the Committee asking contributions and suggestions for the 
report of this year, and authorized by the Committee to make 
such report as possible, decided it would be interesting, as 
well as effective, to use these communications from the vari- 
ous members of the committee as the ]:)ody of the report. 

Col. W. II. Scanland. Benton, La., has prepared the first 
chapter, as follows : 



4 2ist Annual Reimion, Little Rock, Ark., May 16-18, ipii. 

"The history of the world records no braver fight than 
that which was made by the Southern armies during the war 
between the States. AVhile they knew full well that they 
were fighting against great odds, yet, moved by a conscious- 
ness of right, they marched with unfaltering tread to battle 
and to victory. 

"The cause for which they stood went down in defeat, 
but the glory of their heroism will illuminate the pages of 
history as long as time shall last. 

"The dauntless courage of the men of Yorktown and Val- 
ley Forge and of Buena Vista and Chapultepec have been cele- 
brated in song and story, but the endurance and daring of 
Southern soldiers equalled the one and surpassed the other. 
If the barefoot ragamuffins under Washington could be 
tracked by the blood upon the snow, so could the Southern 
soldiers during the war. 

"If the men under Scott and Taylor could win victories 
with an abundance of equipment and supplies, so could our 
men with empty stomachs and poorly-clad bodies. Indeed, 
it may well be asked if the victories in Mexico would have 
been so signal and so glorious but for the troops from the 
Southern States. It has been said that on one occasion, just 
after the opening of hostilities, that Lincoln and Scott were 
riding along the lines in front of Richmond, and Lincoln said 
to Scott: 'General, you took the City of ^Mexico with fewer 
men than you have here.' *Yes,' said Scott, 'but the men I 
took Mexico with, I have to take now.' 

"All honor to the memory of the brave warriors of the 
sixties. But could they have been otherwise than brave? 

"They were no mongrel crew gathered from the ends of 
the earth. They were the sturdy yeomanry of our Southland 
— descended from a brave and worthy ancestry. They were 
commanded by men who were at least the equals of any mili- 
tary chieftains the world ever saw. What line of history 
points to grander men than R. E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and 
Albert Sidney Johnston? 

"There men were backed by the encouragement, sympathy 
and prayers of the most heroic women that God ever gave 



Report of the Historical Committee. 5 

to the world. If the Spartan woman could give to her de- 
parting son the battle-spear and say, 'Bring this back, or be 
brought back upon it,' so could the woman of the South, as 
she yielded her husband or her son to the service of her coun- 
try. The men were heroes very largely because the w^omen 
were heroines. The picture of the war will never be cor- 
rectly drawni until we can see clearly the men in the army, the 
women superintending plantations, spinning, weaving and 
making clothes for the soldiers and scouring the country for 
supplies to be sent to the front. And as a rule they managed 
successfully ; albeit, some men tell us that 'women have no 
head for lousiness.' 

"We are reminded here of a story told by Bishop Marvin, 
who was a refugee from his Missouri home during a part of 
the war. He was stopping for a time in a country home, 
where the wife, as was usual in those days, had everything to 
manage. She was often perplexed, and would say, 'Oh, if 
I only knew how John would manage it.' After a while John, 
the husband, came home on furlough. As soon as the greet- 
ing and the kisses were over, she seated John on the sofa, 
drew out her memorandum book, and went over all the details 
of the business. When she had finished he drew her to his 
bosom and said : 'Mary, you are the grandest woman in the 
world ; you have done so much better than I could have done 
myself.' 

"This case was typical of thousands of Southern homes. 
Ofttimes when the soldier in the field received the box from 
home, his cheeks were w^et with tears, because those articles 
reminded him of the loving hearts and deft fingers that were 
far away in 'Dixie.' They could work and pray while the men 
could fight, and they did it. 

"Another party in the background must not be forgotten, 
and that was 'the old-time darkey.' The ante-bellum slave 
was, as a rule, faithful to his master and his master's interests. 
The master's family was the object of special care to him in 
the time of stress and danger. No matter how much the 
negro has degenerated under later conditions, his forbears 
were not so. 



6 2ist Annual Reunion^ Little Rock, Ark., May 16-18, igii . 

"Very often during the stormy days of the war, women 
and children, with all their valuables, would have been at the 
mercy of a vandal horde, but for the faithful care and well- 
directed energy of the slaves." 

Col. Joseph T. Derry has prepared the second chapter, 
which is as follows : 

"It is amazing- to see with what readiness our people, 
including public speakers of every class, accept the incorrect 
statements of writers, who are either profoundly ignorant of 
the subjects which they discuss, or wilfully misrepresent facts. 

"It has not been more than a year since a distinguished 
speaker in the city of Atlanta exhibited a woeful ignorance 
of the motives which lead the Southern people to withdraw 
from a Union, to the formation and growth of which they had 
contributed the greatest part. 

"On another occasion that same speaker said, that the 
South learned at Gettysburg that she could not divide the 
American Union. He ought to have known that the war last- 
ed twenty-one months, or only three months less than two 
years, after Gettysburg, and that a little more than a year 
after that battle the North was in greater doubt as to the 
final success of the Union cause than at any other period of 
the four years' conflict. Gold went higher then than at any 
previous or subsequent time. 

"Many of our people also read the historical romance of 
General Miles, and accept them as the truth. 

"Among famous incidents in the world's history, written 
by one whose name does not appear with his stories, in an 
article on the charge up Missionary Ridge in which this state- 
ment is made : 'This famous charge was the concluding scene 
of the conflict in and about Chattanooga, which waged for 
several days from September 19th to the 24th. Beginning 
with the battle of Chickamauga, on the 19th, in which Thomas 
stood like a wall against the onslaughts of the Confederates, 
and had bestow^ed upon him the title of "The Rock of Chicka- 
mauga," and "Fighting Joe" Hooker had accomplished his 
famous "Battle Above the Clouds," and the 24th came the fa- 
mous and decisive battle of Missionary Ridge.' 



Report of the Historical Committee. 7 

"Any one reading that paragraph, who did not know 
better, would suppose that only five days intervened be- 
tween the battles of Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge. 
He would never know that Chickamauga was one of the most 
decisive Confederate victories of the war; that, although 
Thomas held on firmly for several hours after the rout of the 
Union right wing, on September 20th, he, too, had to take 
refuge at nightfall with the rest of the defeated army in Chat- 
tanooga, which had been in possession of the Federals since 
September 9th. Nothing is said about how the Confederates 
besieged the enemy in Chattanooga and brought them to the 
verge of ruin, and of the alarm of the Federal government, 
which was so great that Hooker was hastily sent with the nth 
and 1 2th corps from the Army of the Potomac, and Sherman, 
in camp east of Vicksburg, was ordered to hurry with his four 
divisions to the relief of the besieged; that Grant arrived on 
October 23rd, and by the reinforcements north of the Tennes- 
see, opened communication by the river (October 27th and 
28th) ; that after Bragg had sent Longstreet with 15,000 men 
to attack Burnside at Knoxville, Grant concentrated an over- 
whelming force against the Confederates, and on November 
25th, or sixty-six days after the battle of Chickamauga, 
fought and won the battle of Missionary Ridge. 

"In Hooker's so-called 'Battle above the Clouds' (Novem- 
ber 24th), he, with more than 9,000 men, finally forced back 
Walthall's little force of 1,700 men, less than one-fourth of 
Hooker's strength. 

"Inasmuch as the above-mentioned gross perversions of 
the truth of history are among the most recent, I suggest 
some reference to them in our forthcoming historical report. 

"JOSEPH T. DERRY." 

And General William T. Shaw has prepared the third 
chapter, as follows : 

"We are to-day the guests of a city and State in the 
heart of the Trans-Mississippi Department. The military 
achievements of this department, especially that of Texas, 
Western Louisiana and Arkansas, have received hut meaner 



8 2isi Annual Rennioji, Little Rock, Ark., May 16-18, igii. 

consideration by historic writers and i)latform speakers. In 
fact, a history of the hardships endured, dangers dared and 
deeds of heroic valor performed by this army in keeping 
watch and ward over the Gulf coast of Texas, stretching from 
the Rio Grande to Sabine Pass, and in guarding that vast 
scope of exposed ^Mississippi front in Louisiana and Arkan- 
sas, remains -to be written. 

"One of the most interesting historic incidents of the 
war was enacted in this department, on the Texas coast, in 
the Battle of Sabine Pass, September 8, 1863, by Lieutenant 
R. ^^^ Dowllng in command, with forty-seven men, in defense 
of Fort Grifhn. The following extracts from his official re- 
port of this battle is both interesting and instructive : 

" 'A fleet of twenty-two vessels were present. The 
Cliff o'l anchored opposite the lighthouse, and fired twenty-six 
shots at the Fort, only two of which took effect, neither of them 
doing any serious damage to the Fort. This firing lasted 
from 6:30 to 7:30, one hour. No more firing was indulged in 
until 1 1 o'clock, when the gunboat Uncle Ben steamed down 
near the Fort, and the United States gunboat Sachem opened 
on her with a thirty-pound Parrott gun, firing three sho'ts 
without eft"ect, all missing the Ben, and passing over the Fort. 
The whole fleet then drew off, and remained out of range until 
3 :40 P. ]\L, when the Sachem and Arizona steamed into line 
up the Louisiana channel. The Clifton and one boat, name 
not known, remaining at the junction of the two channels. I 
allowed the two former boats to approach within 1,200 yards, 
when I opened fire with the whole of my battery on the fore- 
most boat, the Sachem, which after the third or fourth round 
hoisted the white flag, one of the shots passing through her 
steam drum. The Clifton in the meantime had attempted to 
pass up through Texas Channel, but receiving a shot which 
carried away her tiller rope, she became unmanageable, and 
grounded about 500 3^ards below the fort, which enabled me 
to concentrate all my guns on her, which were six in number, 
two 32-pounder smooth bores, two 22-pounder smooth bores, 
and two 32-pounder howitzers. She withstood our fire some 
twenty-five or thirty-five minutes, when she also hoisted a 



Report of the Historical Committee. 9 

white flag. During the time she was aground she used grape, 
and her sharpshooters poured an incessant shower of minnie 
balls into the works. The fight lasted from the time I fired the 
first gun until the boats surrendered, that Avas about three- 
quarters of an hour. * * * Thus, it will be seen, we cap- 
tured with forty-seven men, two gunboats, mounting thirteen 
guns of the heaviest caliber, and about 350 prisoners. All 
my men behaved like heroes ; not a man flinched from his post. 
Our motto was 'Victory or Death !' 

"General Halleck, Secretary of AA'ar. September 30, 1863, 
after this battle, writes : 

" 'The failure of the attempt to land at Sabine is only an- 
other of numerous examples of the uncertainty and unrelia- 
ble character of maritime expeditions.' 

"This is a circumstance unparalleled in the annals of his- 
tory, where forty-seven men; occupying a little mud fort, 
poorly equipped with smooth-bore guns, by dint of their re- 
markable courage and heroic valor, successfully resisted the 
serious effort of a powerful fleet of tAventy-two vessels to land, 
disabling two of them, and capturing 350 men, more than they 
could guard, being forced to resort to strategy to cover up 
their deficiency until reinforcements arrived. 

"We have quoted this report at length, believing it de- 
deserves a more general recognition in history than has been 
accorded it. Texas was the only Confederate State not over- 
run by the enemy, and this is a striking illustration of the kind 
of courage that prevented its invasion against repeated efforts 
by overwhelming numbers. The most formidable of these 
attempts was the Red River campaign by General Banks 
tnrough Louisiana, in conjunction with General Steel from 
Little Rock, Arkansas, in the spring of 1864. 

"This campaign, when viewed in the light of the corres- 
pondence now compiled by the war records, showing a deep- 
laid plan and careful preparation extending over a period of 
ten months, assumes the most intense historic interest. It 
was undertaken for both military and strategic reasons. The 
troops selected for this important undertaking were picked 
veteran troops from Grant and Sherman's armies, the 13th, 



10 2 1st Ajinual Reunion, Little Rock, Ark., Mar 16-18, igii. 

i6th and 19th army corps. The men who had captured Vicks- 
burg and Port Hudson, and later saved Washington from 
Early's raid. It is with gratification that we give in this re- 
port the long-delayed historic recognition of the valor of the 
troops who so signally discomfited this powerfully equipped 
army, composed of such material. 

"General Banks reported entering this campaign in Lou- 
isiana with 42,000 men. General Taylor attacked the front 
of this powerful army at Mansfield, with Walker's Division 
of Texas Infantry, Mouton's Division, made up of Louisiana 
and Texas troops and Texas cavalry, a total of 6,100 men. In 
the language of General Taylor, in command of the Confed- 
erates : 'The great event then transpired at 4 P. M., April 8th. 
The enemy failing to advance, our line advanced in force and 
swept everything before it, as was also the Second Division of 
the 13th corps, brought up to sustain the first line, pursuing 
the routed foe four miles below our first position. Eight 
thousand of the enemy, his horse and two divisions of Infan- 
try and 5,000 of the 19th corps were driven back by sunset. 
Xhe fruits of the victory at Mansfield were 250 wagons, sev- 
eral stands of colors, many thousand small arms, twenty pieces 
of artillery and 2,500 prisoners.' 

'Tn the second day's battle at Pleasant Hill. Taylor was 
reinforced by Parson's Missouri Division and Churchill's Ar- 
kansas Division, with an increase of Texas Cavalry, making a 
force of 12,500 men, while the enemy had in position 18,000 
men. This was- a hotly contested battle, being ended by 
nightfall with both sides occupying substantially their original 
positions. The enemy retreated during the night, leaving 
their wounded, with many supplies on the field, and their 
dead unburied. General Taylor reported: Tn the two ac- 
tions of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill my loss in killed and 
wounded was 2,200; at Pleasant Hill we lost three guns and 
425 prisoners.' General Banks reported his loss in the two 
battles at 'nearly 4,000 men, besides artillery, mules and 250 
wagons.' 

'Tt is generally known that after these two battles General 
Smith, against the serious opposition of General Taylor, per- 



Report of the Historical Committee. 11 

sisted in transferring" to Arkansas to meet General Steel all 
the infantry except Polignac's Division, now reduced to less 
than 1,200 men, and Texas Cavalry, amounting to less than 
4,500 men all told, to cope with Banks' army and Porter's fleet 
of nineteen gunboats on Red River from Blair's Landing, 
where Parson's Texas Cavalry Brigade fought the gunboat 
fight, and General Tom Green was killed, to Yellow Bayou, 
the closing battle of the campaign. The following extraci; 
from a General Order issued by General John A. Wharton, 
who commanded the Texas Cavalry, will illustrate how well 
they did their duty to the close of the expedition: 

" 'General Order No. 7, 

Army of Western Louisiana. May 24, 1864. 

Soldiers : 

For forty-six days you have daily engaged the enemy, al- 
ways superior to you in numbers. When the beaten foe, four 
army corps of Infantry and 5,000 Cavalry, began his retreat, 
you were formed in battle array in his front and hung upon 
his flank and rear only to destroy. In his retreat from Grand 
Ecore to Atchafalaya, you killed, wounded and captured 4,000 
men, destroyed five transports and three gunboats. All this 
was accomplished with a loss to you of 400 men, two-thirds of 
Avhich will report for duty again in forty days. The history 
of no other campaign will present the spectacle of a cavalry 
force capturing and killing more of the enemy than their own 
numbers. This you have done, and in so doing have im- 
mortalized yourselves and added new luster to Texas, the gal- 
lantry of whose sons have been illustrated on many battlefields 
from Gettysburg to Glorietta.' 

"The loss of one cavalry regiment, 12th Texas, Parson's 
Brigade, in a single charge at Yellow Bayou, was eighty-three 
officers and men out of 258 who participated, or about one- 
third killed and wounded." 

One of the most extraordinary hapnenings in regard to 
the history of the South occurred in Virginia in the past few 
weeks : Elson's History of the United States had been sel- 
ected as a textbook by Roanoke College. Miss Sarah Mof- 



12 2Tst Ainmal Reunion, Little Rock, Ark , May 1618, ipii. 

fett, one of the students of the college, refused to attend the 
history class or use this history where it referred to the South 
and its people. For this she suffered reprimand. The South- 
ern Cross Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy 
has issued a circular which has been widely distributed, which 
is incorporated in this record : 

"To the Daughters of the Confederacy, the Camps of Confed- 
erate Veterans, the Sons of Veterans, and to All Who Are 
Loyal to the Southland, and Love Her Traditions and De- 
sire a Truthful History of Her Social and Political Life : 

The Southern Cross Chapter, U. D. C, of Virginia, takes this 
method of calling 5'our attention to the untruthful and biased 
book known as Elson's History of the United States, which 
has found its way into the South, and is being taught in some 
of our schools and colleges. 

'Tt was selected as a textbook by Roanoke College, and 
our attention was first called to the matter when Miss Sarah 
MofYett, a student of this college, refused to attend the history 
class on account of the vile slander which this book contains 
upon the purity and virtue of the men and women of the 
South. 

''And, upon examination of the history, we were not sur- 
prised at ]\Iiss Moffett's refusal to attend the class, as the his- 
torian says he 'blushes to record the revolting features of 
slavery in the South.' And yet this book that brings a blush 
of shame to the author's cheek is being taught in schools — and 
co-educational schools — in the South. 

"The following extracts from the history will show the 
partisan spirit that prompted the writer to slander a people 
who had reached the pinnacle of high ideals, refinement and 
culture, and to which it has never been the fortune of many to 
attain. 

"We hesitate, and blush to send forth to the public such 
objectionable and obnoxious matter, but the full realization of 
our imperative duty demands that we give the quotations in 
Mr. Elson's own language. 



Report of the Historical Committee. 13 

■'On page 558, last edition, 1910, Mr. Elson says : 'Often 
the attractive slave woman was a prostitute to her mas- 
ter; that this evil was widespread at the South.' He also says, 
'A sister of President Madison declared that though the South- 
ern ladies were complimented with the name of wife, they 
were only the mistresses of Seraglios ;' that 'a leading Southern 
lady declared to Harriet Martineau that the wife of many a 
planter was but the chief slave of his harem.' He quotes 
Emerson as saying that 'John Brown made the gallows glo- 
rious like the cross,' and says himself that 'John Brown was a 
man of intense religious conviction; that we must pity rather 
than blame him ;' 'by the technical letter of the law he was a 
criminal, by the motives and intents of his heart he was not.' 
He says the cause of the war was slavery, and slavery alone; 
that States' rights in the abstract had nothing to do with 
bringing on the war, and styles the war 'a slaveholders" re- 
bellion.' 

"These few quotations are sufficient to show the utter un- 
truthfulness of the book, and the desire of Mr. Elson to villify 
our glorious Southland. 

"We will cite one instance, just to show the pernicious in- 
fluence this book is having on the young people of the South. 
A young man who had studied this so-called history, re- 
marked that he knew it was tough, but believed every word of 
it. And he was a Southern boy; the son of a Confederate 
veteran. 

"Shall we sit idly by and see the fair name and honor of 
our fathers and grandfathers impugned in this shameful way? 
Too many have given their lives for a cause so dear, and whose 
memories we tenderly revere, to permit this slander to go un- 
rebuked. 

"Our Confederate soldiers are peerless, and shall we al- 
low these unequivocal misrepresentations and falsehoods to 
be taught to the present and future generations? No! A 
thousand times, No ! 

"We beg of you to join us in this crusade against histories 
of this character. We only want the truth — nothing more. 



14 2ist Annual Reunion^ Little Rock, Ark., May 16-18, igii. 

"Will you not investigate and ascertain what histories 
are being taught in the colleges and schools of your cities and 
towns? This is urgent. Do not delay. The present gen- 
eration will not be called upon to defend their principles with 
their lives, as their fathers did, yet we have before us a great 
and noble work, the recording of a story of tha't civilization 
whose true history has never been written. A glorious task 
to preserve from oblivion, or worse, from misrepresentation, a 
civilization which produced such men as our immortal Davis, 
Lee and Jackson. 

"The heart cannot but feel that the true story must be 
told ; the song must be sung through the ages that teaches 
the South the sublime beauty of devotion to duty. 

"And we know the time will come when the North, as 
well as the South, shall acknowledge that this glorious Union 
is more secure because of the heritage left us by the Confeder- 
soldiers, the heritage of an untarnished sword. 

"SOUTHERN CROSS CHAPTER, U. D. C. 

Salem. Va., April 20, 191 1." 

It is surprising that any college controlled by Southern 
sympathizers should permit the use of a book so unjust in its 
entire conceptions as this history of Elson's. AA'hatever may 
be its merits as to the other parts of the history of our coun- 
try, when it deals with the war between the States, its tone, 
its manner and its spirit are so filled with bias and malignity 
that no self-respecting man or woman should stand for its 
use in any of the schools. It almost passes comprehension 
that such a l:)Ook, with such matter, should have been used 
bv a large number of Southern colleges and schools. 

This instance at Salem, Va.. Roanoke College, shows 
the necessit}^ for constant watchfulness and vigilant action, 
even in this age when peace has been restored, and when there 
is throughout all parts of the country respect for the motives 
of both sides who entered into the gigantic conflict from '61 
to '65. There are many histories respectful and fair and just 
to the South, which could be used with safety, and when any 
college or school in the South adopts Elson's History, it is 
certainly unfortunate as well as thoughtless. 



/"^ 



Report of the Historical Committee. IS 

It is gratifying- to state that there has been recently issued 
two historic volumes prepared by Prof. Lawton B. Evans, 
published by Messrs. Benjamin Sanborn & Company, of Chi- 
cago. We heartily commend these two volumes for use in 
all Southern schools and colleges. ^^>itten by a brilliant and 
accomplished son of General Clement A. Evans, who has 
held so many places of honor in the South, and whose devotion 
to the United Confederate Veteran Association haA'C endeared 
him to the hearts of all the Southern people. AVe, therefore, 
recommend that a circular be issued in the name of the 
Association, calling attention to the Elson History, as well as 
the two volumes above named, such circular to be printed 
in the name of the Association, and be transmitted by the 
Adjutant General in so far as possible to the faculties of every 
school in the South. 

The Committee has also examined a work printed by 
McMillan & Co., entitled "A Short History of the American 
People," by Miss Edna Henry Lee Turpin of Virginia, and 
commended by Prof. S. C. Mitchell of the University of South 
Carolina. This book is in the main a fair representation of 
the real facts concerning the war, and while it possibly lays too 
great stress on slavery as the cause of the war, it can be 
safely commended for use in the colleges and schools of the 
South. 

All of which is respectfully submitted, 

BENNETT H. YOUNG, 

Chairman. 
W. P. MANNING, 
WILLIAM T. SHAW. 
W. C. SCANLAND, 
WM. M. PEGRAM, 
GEO. L. CHRISTIAN. 
JOSEPH T. DERRY. 



Committee. 



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